Devices which are placed in the heart wall of a patient to revascularize an occluded coronary vessel as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, are known. A variety of procedures for placing these devices have been described, including traditional by-pass open chest procedures, non-bypass open chest procedures, catheterization, and other non-open chest procedures. Improvements to the methods and apparatus used to place transmyocardial implants are desirable.